A/N: A companion piece to "The Bucket's Full", from Kensi's perspective.

Kensi rolled onto her side, rubbing her "good" hand over her face. When she opened her eyes a few seconds later, she saw Deeks standing in front of one of the two small windows, the blind partially drawn up.

"Deeks?"

He turned around, his face briefly in shadows before he moved into the early morning glow. "Morning, Kensalina." He greeted her with a gentle kiss that was over way too soon.

"I thought I told you to go home and sleep in a real bed," she told him as he settled into the stiff couch. He tried sleeping there last night again, but she couldn't bear to see him awkwardly curled up one more night, and eventually he'd relented. She didn't miss the sleepy look in his eyes or his slightly more than usually disheveled hair.

"Eh, it's just not the same without my favorite Ladybird," he said flippantly. "Speaking of, how did you sleep?"

"Actually, not that bad. I keep getting this weird twitch in my leg that's super annoying," Kensi told him, rolling her eyes. When it first started, she'd been excited, relieved that her stupid leg was finally doing something, but now it just made her restless.

"Awesome." Deeks grinned softly, brushing her face back from her cheek with a gentleness that had her sighing softly in contentment. "Hey, I was thinking maybe we could break out for a couple hours and go to that cafe down the street."

"Mm, I have a better idea," she told him, gesturing him forward with her right hand.

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" Deeks asked as he slid off the couch and bent down to her level. Instead of answering verbally, Kensi stretched forward far enough to press her mouth to his, sliding her hand up into his hair.

"Get up here."

After a moment of hesitation, Deeks crawled into bed with her, carefully curling around her. Drawing his mouth back to hers, Kensi sighed, losing herself in Deeks' touch. In this moment, there were just the two of them. She wasn't in a hospital bed, she didn't have severe injuries, Deeks wouldn't be leaving her soon to do the job she no longer could.

A jarring knock broke through her fantasy, and Deeks pulled away, slipping away before a nurse walked in. Kensi sighed at the loss of contact.

"Good morning, Kensi. You have your first round of PT in 45 minutes. Would you like help getting dressed?" The nurse asked.

"I think we're good, thanks Alex."

"Of course."

While Alex quickly took Kensi's blood pressure and heart rate, Deeks grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. She didn't love that she had to rely on someone to help with such simple and mundane tasks, but she'd discovered that it was actually easier with Deeks. Even though she still found it embarrassing at times, Deeks made the experience less miserable.

"Alright, pants or shirt first?" Deeks asked, holding up a couple options with a flourish.

"Let's get the shirt over with," she decided. She managed get her hospital gown off with minimal support; putting clothes on was significantly harder.

Once she was dressed in a green shirt and gray sweatpants, Deeks crouched down in front of her with a pair of socks, patting his knee.

"I think I can do it myself."

Deeks looked dubious for the tinies of the seconds before handing her one of the socks.

Pressing her lips together, she concentrated on lifting her leg high enough that she could reach her foot. Her hand shook as she tried to get her claw around the fabric and keep ahold of it. Just when she got the sock over her big toe, her hand gave out, and it fell on the floor. Kensi made a noise of frustration, not saying a word as Deeks retrieved the sock.

Five minutes later, her hand shook with the pure effort of holding the sock in mid-air, she felt sweaty, and her upper lip trembled with barely contained frustration. As she brought the sock towards her foot one more time, it slipped out.

Kensi swept her arm across the table by her bad, the sound of crashing bottles and cups doing nothing for her anger. To her horror, tears started sliding down her cheeks, and in a second Deeks was by her side, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey, it's ok, baby."

Sinking into his chest, she sobbed, body shuddering with anger, grief, and feelings she couldn't even put words to.